3 ms·

I think you may be presuming that every UI that consumes this data is able to display a map showing the bus’s location. We do make real-time bus lat/lng availab

I think you may be presuming that every UI that consumes this data is able to display a map showing the bus’s location. We do make real-time bus lat/lng available through our API and lots of clients use that data. But there are other applications where a time prediction is still helpful. For example in many of our stations that serve bus routes, we don’t have the infrastructure (yet) to display a live map but we do have digital signs that tell when the next bus is expected to arrive.

ramshorns 8y ago
A map isn't necessary to show a location. The digital sign could just display the name of the last intersection the bus was at. (I'm not convinced that's any better than a reasonably good prediction though.)
- bobthepanda 8y ago
  Each approach has its own tradeoffs. - Time. Time has the advantage of brevity ("15 min" takes up a grand total of five characters) and indisputable meaning. It's also the hardest to predict, and people get pretty upset about incorrect predictions. - Intersection. On a signboard, intersection names can get quite long. You would also need familiarity with where exactly the intersection is located, how the bus gets from there to your stop, etc. Boston is famously non-gridded, and has no real consistent rhyme or reason to its street layout, so that would be very confusing. - Miles/stops away. New York's BusTime uses this. This is a pretty indisputable metric, and if you have GPS or a working odometer is trivial to confirm. But this runs into the same problem as intersections; you need context. The bus is two stops away, but how long does it take to make those two stops? A mile passing through Times Square is very different from a mile through the leafy, quiet suburbs of Queens. You can pick between meaning and certainty, but it's very hard to have both.

3 ms·

I think you may be presuming that every UI that consumes this data is able to display a map showing the bus’s location. We do make real-time bus lat/lng availab

by katehedgpeth 8y ago

ramshorns 8y ago
A map isn't necessary to show a location. The digital sign could just display the name of the last intersection the bus was at. (I'm not convinced that's any better than a reasonably good prediction though.)
- bobthepanda 8y ago
  Each approach has its own tradeoffs. - Time. Time has the advantage of brevity ("15 min" takes up a grand total of five characters) and indisputable meaning. It's also the hardest to predict, and people get pretty upset about incorrect predictions. - Intersection. On a signboard, intersection names can get quite long. You would also need familiarity with where exactly the intersection is located, how the bus gets from there to your stop, etc. Boston is famously non-gridded, and has no real consistent rhyme or reason to its street layout, so that would be very confusing. - Miles/stops away. New York's BusTime uses this. This is a pretty indisputable metric, and if you have GPS or a working odometer is trivial to confirm. But this runs into the same problem as intersections; you need context. The bus is two stops away, but how long does it take to make those two stops? A mile passing through Times Square is very different from a mile through the leafy, quiet suburbs of Queens. You can pick between meaning and certainty, but it's very hard to have both.